Scotland yard has announced this week that it now has 30 police officers working to locate the fox who falsely gave corroborating evidence against the Heythrop Hunt. The members of the hunt, who were recently heavily fined for hunting fox with hounds have praised attempts to clear their names and are calling for a full inquiry.

One member of the hunt who wished to remain anonymous expressed his relief at the reopening of investigations; "naturally we mistrust the fox, that is after all why we would relentlessly pursue and kill it".

The local police are reconsidering the usefulness of animal testimony, yet claim that the fox sent a number of emails posing as a witness and therefore did not instantly raise suspicion. However CCTV cameras (that were recently and controversially installed at great expense in the entirety of the Oxfordshire countryside) clearly show only one fox making its way across the picturesque Cotswold landscape, and the director of investigations admitted that viewing it did throw doubt on the other fox's condemning testimony.

"This call for an inquiry is not so much about wether or not we actually did try and use our foxhounds to illegally kill an animal, but rather about a conspiracy within the animal community to blacken the names of members of the community", stated local resident and stable owner James Sneggs. He continued to talk about the Heythrop predicament - "ever since the Labour Party somehow convinced the Queen they were the government and passed the Hunting Act in 2004 we've had nothing but trouble, and it is of no surprise to me that the course of justice is still being obstructed by these cunning crepuscular critters."

It is not clear as to wether the fines will be lifted, or if indeed the fox in question can be brought in for questioning. Because the hunt has previously counted amongst its riders David Cameron, any inquiry will of course place the government in a precarious position, and would no doubt also meet with opposition from the many anti-hunting lobbyists who called for the ban in the first place.

Giving his final word on the matter, the local Police Commissioner (who is still largely unknown by his constituents) pointed out the great irony of staging "an overblown fox-hunt, in the pursuit of keeping of the fox hunting ban".

What is certain is that both the integrity of the police force and the fauna of England's countryside have been called into question by this incident.